The deadline to apply for the EUSEW Awards has now passed, and no further applications will be accepted. Applicants can expect to be informed about whether they are a finalist by the end of March.
Andreia Carreiro
‘Every day I wake up thinking about how we can concretise this energy transition’
Andreia Carreiro is a pioneer of technology uptake and public policy in the Azores. An active proponent of gender equality in the sustainable energy field, Andreia co-founded Women in Energy Portugal, an initiative developed under the Portugal World Energy Council Future Energy Leaders programme. Given that women remain largely underrepresented in the energy sector, Andreia and her fellow members have embarked on a mission to bridge the gender gap through this initiative.
As the former Regional Director for Energy of the Azores, Andreia was responsible for the development of the policy strategy for the islands’ energy autonomy based on natural resources and emerging technologies. She also served as Energy Advisor to the Deputy Minister and Secretary of State for Energy, designing public policy strategies on energy efficiency, self-consumption, and energy communities, as well as for the development of programmes in Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.
‘Islands are the most vulnerable spaces impacted by climate change. In the Azores, we need to have many more companies working in sustainable energy because it is so important in fighting climate change.’
This belief led Andreia to pursue an ambitious academic career focused on understanding the complexity of sustainable systems, which culminated in a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems from the MIT Portugal Programme.
According to Nelson Lage, President of the Portuguese Energy Agency, ‘Andreia has a vision. She knows how to involve stakeholders and make things happen, and she does it with passion. She is a natural leader’.
Today, Andreia is using these skills to advance innovative projects and energy solutions, create fruitful partnerships and advise on policy at Cleanwatts, a scale-up climatech company committed to accelerating energy decarbonisation for companies and communities around the world. Most recently, she co-founded Kinergy, a start-up in the Azores that aims to contribute to the energy transition for islands. Its main purpose is ‘to create the energy communities in the Azores, because in this situation you are able to produce your own energy and share [it] with your neighbours,’ bringing economic, social and environmental benefits.
In supporting the development of innovative solutions and new policies, as well as the establishment of energy communities, Andreia is moving the dial on the European Commission’s Clean energy for all Europeans package and delivering on the European Green Deal. Her actions to establish renewable energy technologies in the Azores also support the REPowerEU Plan to accelerate the clean energy transition and increase Europe’s energy independence.
Andreia Carreiro was one of three finalists shortlisted for the European Sustainable Energy Awards 2022 in the Woman in Energy category. The other finalists were Apostolina Tsaltampasi and Britta Schaffmeister.
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Details
- Publication date
- 13 January 2023
- Author
- European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency